SATURDAY

>> Festival supports farming culture group

Head over to the West Side to celebrate Hawaii’s agriculture culture and support the farming lifestyle at the Kahumana Farm Festival fundraiser on Saturday.

The event offers a day of live music and entertainment, with rock and blues musician Tavana headlining the bill. Lucie & The Perfect Wave, Chalin Shadowbox, Paul Izak, Hawaiki and Mai Sol are on the bill as well.

Health and well-being is a focus, with yoga demonstrations and lomi lomi massage. Juicy Brew and the Kahumana Cafe will serve up food and drink. Keiki will have their own fun zone with games, bouncy houses and prizes.

If you’re looking for new plants for your garden, check out the seed and plant exchange, starting at 4 p.m.

Kahumana occupies five campuses on 50 acres in the Lualualei Valley in West Oahu. The organization is devoted to creating farm-based communities for homeless families, people with disabilities and young people, using the traditional Hawaiian values of maka‘ala (mindfulness), aloha (empathy) and lokahi (cooperation).

>> Performance features Hawaiian puppetry

The rarely performed art of Hawaiian puppetry will be staged at Mamiya Theatre on Saturday.

The story and dance art form is the passion of Auli‘i Mitchell, pictured, a kumu hula on Hawaii island whose family members were practitioners of hula ki‘i (imagery), as puppetry is known in Hawaiian. They challenged him to restore the long-lost art form.

Hula Ki‘i almost died out in when the early missionaries to Hawaii banned hula. It was revived somewhat under Kamehameha III, but then fell out of favor again. Mitchell’s family had passed on the chants for hula ki‘i, which tell stories in brief, episodic form, “but we no longer had puppets,” Mitchell said.

After studying puppets in Bishop Museum’s collection and the Smithsonian Institution in the 1980s, Mitchell began making his own, hand-sized puppets. The puppets for this performance are new, large-scale marionettes, made from dead trees that he seeks out in the forests. For Mitchell, that is part of the spiritual aspect of hula ki‘i.

“I go for wood that has been cured naturally, so as I’m carving it, I give life back to that wood,” he said. “I see an image in it and I take it with me. I do prayer and then I begin the carving, and as I carve, my mana brings out the mana inside that wood.”

The performance is part of “Iwakalua,” an evening of entertainment and tradition presented by actor, musician and kumu hula Tony Conjugacion. Conjugacion’s Halau Na Wainohia, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, will perform with Mitchell’s Halau o Moani Nui A Kiwa, based in New Zealand, and students from the Pacific Institute of Performing Arts in Auckland. Kumu Minerva Pang, who taught Hawaiian values in local schools for 31 years and at age 90 still leads her own hula halau, is also featured.

MONDAY-TUESDAY

>> Literary inspiration: Writers, others share insights on disability, diversity

A book pavilion with writers and book lovers on hand at The Modern Honolulu to offer advice and expertise on writing is the most publicly accessible part of this week’s Pacific Rim Conference on Disability & Diversity, a two-day forum.

More than 20 events are scheduled at The Modern, including panel discussions, readings, poetry slams, and workshops on writing fiction and nonfiction.

Disability in comic books will be the subject of a 3:50 p.m. Tuesday discussion. The panel includes Christopher Caravalho, a Honolulu police officer who founded Mana Comics; Napua Ahina, a graphic designer who now has a thriving career in the comic book industry; and Stacey Hayashi, author-illustrator of the manga “Journey of Heroes” about the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Roy Chang, editorial cartoonist for MidWeek, will moderate.

Another highlight is a 10:30 a.m. Monday presentation on writing on pop culture by Raphael Travis, who has written about hip-hop culture as a source of well-being. Travis is a professor of social work at Texas State University.

If you think there’s a story in your life — who doesn’t? — or are interested in the link between food and health, check out “What’s Your Story? A Masterclass on Memoir,” presented by Jessica Fechtor at 11:50 a.m. Monday. Fechtor is the author of “Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals that Brought Me Home,” her account of sustaining and recovering from a brain aneurysm.

Using disability to your advantage will be the lesson of a 2:30 p.m. Tuesday panel discussion, “Standup Comedy and Disability: Art, Social Activism, or Pure Nonsense (or maybe a bit of all three!)” by comedian Nina G and psychotherapist Matthew Mock. Nina G is a stand-up comedian who works her speech impediment into her routine. “If you stutter, I’m an inspiration; if you don’t, I’m just an angry bitch,” she told a Bay Area audience in 2011.

Visit pacrim.hawaii.edu for a complete schedule of events at the book pavilion.

WEDNESDAY

>> Comedian Clark bringing routine to Oahu, Big Isle

Stand-up comedian Tom Clark brings his casual observational comedy and physical humor to Anna O’Briens on Wednesday.

The native of Milwaukee originally trained with improv comedy troupe The Dead Alewives, which claims alumna like Eric Price of “Mad TV” and Kurt Scholler of “The Middle.” Lately, he’s been making the rounds of comedy clubs and late-night talk shows. On “Conan,” his bit ranged from his poor math ability — his way of calculating 7 x 7 has references to “Gilligan’s Island,” the Spanish language and Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana — to adjusting to life in Los Angeles, joking that after his first earthquake, he went out looting. “Things are a bit awkward around the apartment complex,” he said.

Football fans might be interested to know that Clark is best friends with Aaron Rodgers, star quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. Or so he says. Being from Wisconsin, Clark was agog when Rodgers appeared at an awards show where Clark was interviewing guests. The two had a photo taken together. Meant as a bit of braggadocio to friends back home, it was taken as fact of their friendship by his fans.

Clark also will visit venues on Hawaii island, appearing Thursday at the Hilo Town Tavern, at My Bar Kona on Oct. 13 and at the KMC Lava Lounge in Volcano on Oct. 14.